Take Me Away
by Kisses on the Bottom
Summary: Obviously, Mal was the better choice. And he always would be. T for dark themes.


**Just a one-shot I thought I should post meanwhile I work on _The Most Important Thing. _I've never really written dark themes before, so this is my first time. Review please!**

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><p>She was a beautiful woman-possessing long, ebony hair and deep, hazel eyes. She had a white, radiant smile and a breathtaking complexion, not to mention a professional personality as well.<p>

But all that beauty was hidden by the deep gashes that bore into her cheeks and the large dark circles underneath her eyes.

The woman, whose name was Natara Williams, staggered into the restroom at another one of her boyfriend's large parties. She placed her hand to her cheek, warm blood trickling down her fingertips as she did so. She gritted her teeth in pain as she grabbed a nearby towel to attempt to stop the bleeding. It didn't work, but the blood soaked through the thin rag.

She could remember every vivid, painful detail of what had just happened.

_"Oscar!" she had called to her lover, approaching him as he greeted the guests, one businessman in particular that he had been longing to see for a job opportunity. "Oscar, where are the h'ordeurves?"_

_Her boyfriend let out a fake smile as he grabbed her waist in front of his potential boss. "Natara, darling," he softly kissed her cheek, "they're on top of the refrigerator, waiting to be served."_

_Natara, obviously falling for his charm, grinned. "I'll serve them, Oscar. Don't worry." _

_Oscar let out a small laugh and faced the businessman, who went by the name of Samuel Strauss. "Mr. Strauss, I'd like you to meet my fiancé, Natara."_

_Samuel reached out and shook her hand, taking his cigarette out of his lips and puffing smoke slowly into the air. "Nice to meet you, m'dear," he nodded curtly. "Now, er...Oscar, about your job opportunity..."_

_Natara smiled and walked away to serve the appetizers to the guests. She wanted this to be the perfect party for her boyfriend, as he was holding it for Mr. Strauss in hopes of landing a job at his commercial business. If he was hired, he and Natara would have the wedding of their dreams, and he would finally earn enough money and be happier so that he wouldn't have to criticize everything she did._

_She hated when he did that. Oscar would sometimes hit Natara, but she always convinced herself that it was because he wanted her to improve and do better for her own sake...because he loved her. She still believed that. She loved him too, and wanted the best for him as well._

_Having this in mind, Natara hurried her pace from a walk to a light jog as she fetched the dish of h'orderves and began to serve them. The sooner she finished handing them out, she figured, the sooner dinner would be served and the happier the guests from Strauss' company would be._

_However, Natara wasn't aware that one of the heels on her wedged shoes were loose until she came tumbling to the floor, knocking over expensive vases and the dish of appetizers as well. Wine spilled all over the ground, and found its way into her professionally-styled hair._

_"NO!" she screamed as plates shattered and the guests uttered gasps. Oscar came running up to find the source of the commotion, but his soft brown eyes turned to fire when he saw Natara staring up at him from the ground with the rich food in puddles next to her._

_He uttered a fake smile and took Natara by the waist as if to help her up and give her band-aids for the cuts on her legs that she got from falling. He led her into the master bedroom of his house, and waited until the party and noise started back up again before taking out his pocketknife and teaching his girlfriend a lesson she would never forget._

Now, Natara tried to tend to her wounds as she sobbed in between murmurs of cursing. She was done with her life with Oscar; done with it all. This time, it had hurt too much.

The knife had embedded itself deep inside her skin with the help of his hand that guided it. Her arm was full of red marks from the way he had hit her with a nearby radio plug. Her eye makeup was running as hot tears slid down her cheeks. She didn't know why she didn't fight back...after all, she had taken numerous years of krav maga...perhaps it was because she didn't know quite how to react. She was too stunned to do anything.

Natara had run straight home after escaping out of Oscar's window. She didn't know whether Mr. Strauss had stayed or not, but she didn't care. She had received numerous calls from a person upon leaving, but she never bothered to look at the number or answer them.

She reached inside her purse and pulled out a bottle of aspirin, shoving five down her throat as she swallowed water from the tap in hopes of ceasing the immense pain in her cheeks.

Finally, her doorbell rang.

"Natara!" a familiar voice came. "Natara, open up! I have Chinese takeout! I've been calling you all night, but you didn't answer!"

Mal Fallon. Her partner at work.

Upon hearing his voice, Natara darted out of the bathroom and yanked the door open, burying herself in his arms as she cried out in pain and agony.

"My God, Natara, what's wrong?" Mal gently caressed the back of her head as she sobbed.

She slowly lifted her head up to reveal her bloody face.

"Damn!" Mal gasped, quickly dropping the takeout on a nearby table. "Nat, what the hell happened?"

Natara couldn't form her sentences; she was crying too hard.

"He...he..."

Mal knew who she was talking about. "Bastard!" he growled and slammed his fist into the wall. Natara flopped onto the couch and he sat next to her, ripping off a part of his thin jacket to cease the blood flow.

"T-t-t..." Natara stuttered as Mal tended to her wounds.

"What's wrong, Nat?" he focused on breathing as he acknowledged her stutters. He'd never seen anything this cruel or abusive in his life, besides violent murders he dealt with in the line of duty. He tried to remain calm, however, so that he wouldn't alarm his partner as he tried to keep her calm.

Natara swallowed hard and took a deep breath. "Take me away."

Mal froze as the words left her quivering lips. He looked straight into her eyes; full of fear and helplessness. She needed someone to depend on. She needed this. "Where?" he sighed, "where can you go? You have a job here in San Francisco. You have a life here."

Natara shook her head and wiped tears from her eyes. "But I have _him_ here."

Mal chewed his lip furiously and gently pushed a strand of her hair away from her sweating forehead. He leaned in close and whispered into her ear: "You have me here, too."

This made Natara pause. She placed her palm on his hand and squeezed it tightly, lowering her voice to a hushed whisper as well. "T-then you can come with me...please. Please come with me, Mal. I need you. You're all I have left."

Mal sighed and caressed Natara's cheek soothingly, careful not to touch the aching places containing deep wounds. "Natara, I'm going to find Oscar and make sure he pays for what he did. I can't leave now. I need to get the job done."

Natara buried her burning face into his arms. He didn't care that the blood stained his shirt. "Please, Mal...I love you."

Her partner sighed as he looked down and caressed her hair. He gently rested his chin on the top of her head and made sure she didn't see the way his face wrinkled up as he let out a quite, but loose sob.

"Oh, Natara...I love you too. I'll always be here for you. You know that, right? Please stay. Don't let a bastard like Oscar ruin your life here. He'll be gone before you know it," Mal looked up at the spacious ceiling. "It'll all be over soon."

And he was right. Three days later, Oscar was shot and killed by two officers from the SFPD as he tried assaulting them in order to escape arrest.

Natara and Mal did indeed leave about a year and a half after Natara quit rehab, as she had made a nearly full recovery. Her face had been cured too, except for a small scar on her left cheek. She viewed it as insignificant compared to the magnificent improvement she'd experienced with Mal at her side.

Upon leaving San Francisco, they both settled in Maine and married. A year after that, a healthy baby girl named Emily was born, giving even more hope to Natara as she had two more children—Max and Tori—afterwards.

Mal joined the Albany Police Department and kept in touch with his old friends back in San Francisco, even though it had been years since he'd seen them. Natara was a stay-at-home mom, but helped Emily, Max, and Tori with their schoolwork so that they could excel in the future.

Luckily, even through seemingly tough times, Mal would be at her side to help her when she most needed support. He did so that day, many years ago, when her ex-boyfriend physically tortured and assaulted her.

Although Natara still had occasional nightmares and restless nights just thinking about the pain she endured, Mal was always next to her, helping her fall back asleep and comforting her as she wept.

"Take me away," Natara would whisper into Mal's ear at night when she woke up from a nightmare. Somehow, saying that phrase always seemed to make her feel better. "Take me far, far away from it all, and don't ever let me go."

And Mal never did let go. He stayed with her and kissed her when she needed it. He playfully teased her too, so that a laugh would escape from her lips when she was down.

It was moments like these that Natara began to wonder why she even fell for Oscar in the first place.

Obviously, Mal was the better choice. And he always would be.

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><p><strong>Well, duh. Why can't Natara (in-game) actually see that he's PERFECT for her? -sigh- Maltara...must...come.<strong>

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**But hey, we still have FanFiction to satisfy our inner Maltara craves, don't we?**


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